In S.J., not 1 but 3 win elite Gates scholarship

LODI - Tokay High Senior Oscar Leyva and his parents stood in front of the Lodi Unified School District Board of Trustees on Tuesday night as Principal Erik Sanstrom cited an impressive statistic.

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By Keith Reid

recordnet.com

By Keith Reid

Posted May. 26, 2013 at 12:01 AM

By Keith Reid
Posted May. 26, 2013 at 12:01 AM

» Social News

LODI - Tokay High Senior Oscar Leyva and his parents stood in front of the Lodi Unified School District Board of Trustees on Tuesday night as Principal Erik Sanstrom cited an impressive statistic.

Leyva was one of 54,000 national applicants for the Gates Millenium Scholarship offered through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Sandstrom said. Leyva will attend Stanford University, all expenses paid.

Even more astounding, perhaps, is that Leyva was one of three in San Joaquin County to win the scholarship. McNair High senior Sophia Dhillon and Lathrop High senior Nicholas Vaughn also won the award.

To apply for the Gates scholarship, students must write a series of essays that details their background, their achievements and their future goals. Winning is difficult, but the reward is sweet. The Gates Foundation pays all expenses through all levels of college until the scholar earns a doctorate degree.

The scholarship does not have an expense cap. Applicants must have a minimum 3.3 GPA and display other leadership abilities. Financially, the student's family must be eligible for a Pell Grant, which means a wealthy family would not be considered for a scholarship.

Leyva, 17, moved to America five years ago. As the son of Church of God ministers, he left his birthplace in Hermosillo in the Mexican state of Sonora at 4 when his parents took up missionary work in Ecuador.

Over the next seven years, his family moved five times to different churches in Ecuador.

"I had to meet new people, make new friends, every time," Leyva said. "I didn't have a hard time adapting in Ecuador to new schools and new friends. Until I came here."

Dhillon, 18, will attend the University of California, Los Angeles, in the fall and will focus on chemistry, although she'll keep an open mind regarding what will ultimately be her major. She said she applied for the scholarship and didn't think she would win it.

She came home one day in April to find a packet addressed to her.

"I knew it had to be Gates," she said. "It's so exciting. After grants, I calculated that UCLA will cost $8,600 a year. Gates covers it all."

Vaughn, 18, spent most of his childhood on an Army base where his father, Valentino Vaughn, was stationed as an officer. He said he "can't put into words" how winning the scholarship makes him feel, but he knows he wants to stay close by.

Vaughn will attend University of the Pacific, which allow him to deepen his roots in San Joaquin County. "We've moved so many times I feel privileged to have spent four years at Lathrop High," the future electrical engineering major said.

Vaughn said he received his Gates packet in the mail not knowing if he had won or was receiving a condolence letter.

"The first word I read was 'congratulations' and I went ballistic," he said.